California has gone from one climate extreme to the other.

加州的气候已经从一个极端走向了另一个极端。

Nine major storms in three weeks have left 20 people dead and widespread flooding.

三周内的九次大风暴已造成20人死亡，大范围洪水泛滥。

The severe weather follows years of drought that helped fuel devastating wildfires.

在多年的干旱助长了毁灭性的野火之后，恶劣的天气发生了。

Around the world dry extremes are becoming drier and wet extremes wetter as a result of climate change.

由于气候变化，世界各地极端干燥的气候正在变得更加干燥，极端潮湿的气候正在变得更加潮湿。

More than twice as much rain as normal has fallen on San Francisco and Los Angeles so far this season.

到目前为止，旧金山和洛杉矶的降雨量是正常水平的两倍多。

Rainstorms are becoming more intense in California and around the world, says University of California Davis hydrologist Helen Dahlke.

加州大学戴维斯分校的水文学家海伦·达尔克说，加州和世界各地的暴风雨正变得更加激烈。

As we are warming the atmosphere on Earth, we are giving that atmosphere a greater capacity to absorb more water vapor and

当我们使地球上的大气层变暖时，我们给了大气层更大的容量来吸收更多的水蒸气，

eventually that water vapor will fall as precipitation somewhere.

最终，这些水蒸气会以降水的形式落到某个地方。

Flooding has not been California's main concern recently; drought has.

最近，洪水并不是加州的主要问题；干旱才是。

The state has been in some degree of drought for most of the century.

在本世纪的大部分时间里，该州一直处于某种程度的干旱之中。

Droughts are worsening for much the same reason as storms are getting worse.

干旱加剧的原因与暴风雨愈演愈烈的原因大致相同。

Warmer air holds more water.

空气越热，水分就越多。

Dry air that is warmer will try to suck out more moisture from the ground,

更温暖的干燥空气会试图从地面吸走更多的水分，

and that also means that our precipitation weekend in California might not reach as far as it used to in the previous years.

这也意味着我们加州周末的降雨量可能不会像前几年那么远。

So it takes more precipitation to wet up these soils again to wet up that vegetation.

因此，需要更多的降水来再次润湿这些土壤，才能润湿这些植被。

Precipitation has not changed that much in California, but temperatures are considerably warmer.

加州的降雨量没有太大变化，但气温要暖和得多。

So the same amount of rain will leave the state drier.

因此，同样的降雨量将使该州变得更加干燥。

California grows more than a third of America's vegetables and three quarters of the nation's fruits and nuts.

加州种植了美国三分之一以上的蔬菜和四分之三的水果和坚果。

Farmers have turned to pumping groundwater to keep their crops going.

农民们已经转向抽水来维持作物的生长。

Now two-thirds of the state's wells are below normal and one in five is at an all-time low.

现在，该州三分之二的井水位低于正常水平，五分之一的井水位处于历史最低水平。

With the last three years being very dry again, we've seen huge declines in groundwater levels,

随着过去三年再次变得非常干燥，我们看到地下水位大幅下降，

and this will take more than one year of precipitation or above average precipitation to change that trend.

而这将需要一年以上的降水量或高于平均降水量才能改变这一趋势。

Even with the flooding the drought is not necessarily over.

即使洪水泛滥，旱情也不一定会结束。

Last year's rainy season started strong too.

去年的雨季开始也很强劲。

And then in January the tap was shut off and then we had three months of more or less no precipitation.

然后在一月份，降水戛然而止，然后我们有三个月或多或少没有降水。

Plus the state gets much of its water from neighboring Nevada which the storms barely affected.

此外，该州的大部分水来自邻近的内华达州，而暴风雨几乎没有影响到内华达州。

It's more important than ever to hold on to rain when it falls.

在下雨的时候不惜一切存贮水比以往任何时候都更重要。

So when they can, water managers in some areas flood dormant fields and let the water soak in and recharge the groundwater.

因此，当降水量很大时，一些地方会淹没田地，让雨水浸入地下水中并补充地下水。

Those wet years and we only get them maybe every five to seven years.

那些多雨的年份，我们可能每五到七年才有一次。

They are rare and we have to bank as much water as we can because again the next drought could just be around the corner.

它们很罕见，我们必须尽可能多地储存水分，因为下一次干旱可能就在眼前。